I am 62 years old and I'm headed to Europe in 5 weeks. So over the past year I purchased just a couple of items...
D800e + Sigma 35mm f/1.4 + 70-200mm f/4 (for general photography)
D7100 + 80-400mm (because I love sharp superzooms with great IQ)
And the weight of carrying even half of these items for long walks is scaring my to death.
However, sharpness, detail and dynamic range are a HUGE factors to me. So much so that I owned the new 24-120mm f/4 and sent it back.
Do I just say "screw it" Bob, you are getting too old to carry this type of equipment, and go to cheap point and shoots?
What the heck do I do?
I've got at least $10k (so far) into this stuff and fear I'll never get much use out of any of it.
I wish there was a rolling camera cart that I could push around town like a speed cart is to a golfer, or a baby cart is to a new mother. But nobody I know of makes one.
Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.
Thanks So Much for Your Help in Advance!!!
Bob, from Ohio
I am 53 and weigh 75kg and have been to Europe/UK 4 times. My number one hobby is photography and I enjoy using the best that I have so I take my best camera when I can and the lenses that will give me the best IQ and a balance of speed of use and limit the need of swapping out lenses. I did outline what I took on my recent trip in an earlier post but I just wanted to add to that post. Here is my take:
On my first trip in 2006 I took my Pentax DSLR, an *istD, which is an APS C (Dx) sized camera and a number of Pentax lenses, like the 16-45 f4, (24-70 f4 equivalent for Fx), DA14 f2.8 (21 f2.8 Fx equivalent), and a 135 f2.8 (200mm f2.8 Fx equivalent). Mainly used the 16-45 f4 and the 14 a few times.
On my second trip in 2010, I took my Nikon D700 and the 16-35 f4 VR, 24-70 f2.8 and the 70-200 f2.8 VRII, 1.4x TCII, 2x TCIII. Used the 16-35 60% of the time and the 24-70 35% of the time and the 70-200 f2.8 and TC for the rest of the time, but I only used the 70-200 and TC's due to the fact that we went to a wildlife sanctuary in the UK one day otherwise, I would have only used it maybe a few other times.
Moving to the larger and heavier Nikon kit over the Pentax kit was not really all that noticeable to me.
On my 3rd trip in 2011 (cruise on the Med), I took the same kit as above and again, the 70-200 was only used a few times, the 16-35 60% of the time and the 24-70 for the other 40%.
On my 4th trip last year, I took the D800E, 16-35 f4 VR, 24-70 f2.8, 80-400 f4.5-5.6G and the Sigma 35 f1.4. This was a more of a s specialised trip as for part of the trip we were going to the Farne Islands to shoot the Puffins and other bridlife there. Again, the break up was 16-35 f4 VR - took about 55% of my shots, 24-70 f2.8 - took about 30% of my shots, 80-400 f4.5-5.6 - took about 15% of my shots due to the fact that I went to the Farne Islands, Sigma 35 f1.4 - only took a few shots with this lens 1-2%. If I didn't go to the Farne Islands, then it would have a similar break up between the 16-35 and the 24-70 with very few taken with the longer lens.
So, if I were to go again and didn't shoot any wild life, I would probably leave the 80-400 at home as well as the 70-200. I used the 80-400 VR inside some churches simply because I needed a little more reach and wanted VR which the 24-70 doesn't have. I would then only take the 16-35, 24-70 and probably take either my new to me Zeiss 21 f2.8 or Nikon 24 f1.4. I may invest in the 24-120 f4 VR and take that instead of the 24-70 as it gives more reach and has VR which is handy inside dark buildings and at night.
So, if I go to Europe again, it would be the 16-35 f4 VR, possibly a 24-120 f4 VR and either my Zeiss 21 f2.8 or my Nikon 24 f1.4 for narrow DOF or more arty shots.
You say you want DR, sharpness, detail and probably excellent high ISO ability due to the fact that you are in Europe and will be visiting castles, chuches/cathedrals and are inside other old and dark buildings. My advice to you is that unless you shoot wildlife don't take the 70-200 or the 80-400. Instead, just take these:
* Use a good wide to telepoto zoom, like the 24-70 which is still an excellent all round zoom. Either that, or try the 24-120 again, I am sure it's not that bad!
* Get the 16-35 f4 VR which suits this sort of trip perfectly due to the fact it has VR (for inside those dark buildings and for night shots) and has an excellent zoom range which overlaps the 24-70 perfectly, is really excellent from 20-30mm and very good from 16-20, not so strong at 30-35 but you can swap that over to the 24-70. Yes it has distortion at 16mm but that can be easily corrected post process and I have never had a shot ruined because I couldn't fix the distortion.
* Maybe take your Sigma 35 f1.4. I didn't use mine all that much unless you're into just taking street photos of people. I took mine for shallow DOF shots, but didn't use it all that much for that sort of thing.
If you do take just the two or three lenses, then take a small backpack for your other gear and other personal items and maybe put a Lowepro lens exchange (great system) case on the belt. You can then exchange your two most used lenses without having to resort to getting them out of the backpack as the lens exchange case is on the front and has two slots in it, one for the lens you are wanting to exchange to and the other for the lens you are exchanging from:
http://store.lowepro.com/s-f-lens-exchange-case-200-aw
I used this system on my last two trips and it works a treat. I would have the 16-35 on my camera and the 24-70 in the exchange case or vice versa and then it is an easy task top swap from one to the other on the go.
With
any of the kits I used above, I could walk all day with no issue. In fact, in 2010, we walked all day round London doing about 20kms (a friend had a pedometer on) and I had the following in my Lowepro Flipside 400, D700, 16-35, 24-70, 70-200, 1.4x TC, 2x TC.
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Lance B
http://www.pbase.com/lance_b
http://i.pbase.com/o4/21/489821/1/53232844.SydneyPanoVertSmall.jpg
